Safe but dirty

• Geschiedenis
• Middelbare school
• vmbo, mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Introduction

Aan het eind van deze les kun je herkennen en uitleggen welke voor- en nadelen het leven in een Middeleeuwse stad had.

The Middle Ages

Safe but dirty

Time of Cities and States (1000-1500)

Learning objective

At the end of this lesson you can recognize and explain the advantages and disadvantages of life in a Medieval city.

City walls

• Cities were interesting to conquer: they were rich and conveniently located.
• When cities received city rights, they were allowed to build city walls
• City walls made the conquest of a city almost impossible: the inhabitants were safe!

De Franse stad Carcasonne is één van de best bewaarde middeleeuwse steden met stadsmuren

When were cities allowed to build city walls?

Attack!

• The only way to conquer a city was with a siege
• The attacking party's armies then surrounded the city
• This siege could last for months, sometimes years, and had one goal: starvation, so that the city had to surrender.
• If a city finally surrendered, the city was looted and the civilians murdered, raped and / or tortured.

What is a siege?

Wat zie je als je een middeleeuwse stad zou binnen lopen?

Wat zie je als je een middeleeuwse stad zou binnen lopen?

It was crowded and cramped: most towns were no bigger than 5,000 inhabitants, but because it was small and narrow it seemed much busier.

The market

These clergymen held a procession: a march through the city to show their faith in God. Sometimes this was done to do penance.

De winkels waren meestal duidelijk te herkennen aan uithangborden, waarop symbolen van de ambachten stonden, zoals een vis of brood.

In theory, everyone was allowed to enter the city, as long as you did not bring any (large) weapons with you. Knives had to be measured: if a knife was too big, you had to leave it at the city gate.

Inhabitants of a city are nowadays often called citizens, but in the Middle Ages the term 'poorer' was usually used: someone who lives within the gates of a city.

One of the greatest dangers of a medieval town was fire. Most houses were made of wood, and a small fire could reduce half the town to ashes within a few days. Crafts that required a lot of fire, such as blacksmiths, were therefore located in special places in the town.

Sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs: there were often as many animals as people walking around in a city. 

Not all the streets were paved: after a rainstorm, it was a big mud pool, with the (house) dirt washing through the streets.

There was no such thing as a sewerage system or refuse collection service. People sometimes just threw their rubbish on the street or in the canal. So it smelled quite bad, especially in the summer. The filth was also dangerous. The dirt attracted vermin, such as rats. This caused diseases to break out.

Water (to drink and to get clean) was taken from the canal. Indeed: 500 metres away, waste had been thrown into it...

The pillory was one of the punishments you could receive in the Middle Ages.

There were only a few stone buildings in a medieval town, such as the church or the town hall. Later, more stone buildings were added, such as the guild houses.

Houses in this architectural style are called half-timbered houses: the beams in the walls provide the solidity of the house. The spaces between the beams are filled with branches of willow, for example. Then they are filled with a mixture of straw and loam

A city had everything: food, drink, trade and entertainment. It was dirty, but people liked to come there.

Give a short description of a medieval town, as seen in the picture.

Do you think this is a reliable source? Please explain your answer.

A deadly disease...

• The plague bacterium existed in lakes in China for centuries
• The bacterium lives in the blood of the black rat
• Fleas live off the rat's blood and become infected with plague
• The plague ensures that fleas do not ingest anything, so they stay hungry and look for new food: the blood of humans.
• An infected flea thus transmits the plague to humans.

De pestbacterie, Yersinia pestis, 2000x vergroot.

The plague in Europe

• In 1347 the plague arrives in Europe: via the Crimea to Italy
• Through trade, the disease spreads rapidly through Europe
• The filth and vermin in medieval cities also help to create the great plague epidemic of 1347 to 1351
• Eventually, 1/3 of the European population, about 20 million people, die.

De pest door de ogen van schilder Pieter Brueghel de Oude (1562). Voor veel mensen moet de pest zo zijn ervaren: overal dode mensen en complete steden die zijn verlaten.

De verspreiding van de pest tussen 1347-1351

1347

middle in 1348

start in 1349

end 1349

1350

1351

Small outbreak of the plague

Plaguedocter

The "plague doctors" were volunteers paid by the city to isolate the sick. Herbs were put under the beak of the mask to prevent infection.

Punishment of God

• The causes of the plague only became known in the 19th century
• For the people in the Middle Ages, the disease was a punishment from God
• The people thought that God was going to punish them, because they had not lived a good and sinful life.

Flagellanten sloegen zichzelf om zo aan God te laten zien dat zij spijt hadden van hun zonden. De naam Flagellant komt van het Latijnse woord voor zweep: flagellum. Aan het eind van de leren riempjes zitten spijkers.

Video

The black death

Make a poster

• Create a poster with pictures showing the similarities between infectious diseases in the past and today

De pestbacterie, Yersinia pestis, 2000x vergroot.

Why did people like to live in cities and states in the Age of Cities and States? Choose the correct answer.

1. It was cleaner in the city than outside it.
2. It was quieter in the city than outside it.
3. There was much to do in the city. There were often feasts and markets.
4. Diseases were less common in the city than outside it.

Er stierven miljoenen mensen aan de pest. Waardoor maakte de pest zoveel slachtoffers?
Kies het juiste antwoord.

1. De mensen dachten dat de pest een straf van God was. Daarom wilden ze de zieken niet helpen, want ze dachten dat God dan nog bozer zou worden.
2. Alleen arme mensen stierven aan de pest. Dat kon de rijke mensen weinig schelen en dus kregen de arme mensen geen hulp.
3. Men wist niet wat de oorzaak van de ziekte was. Daardoor kon er geen goede manier bedacht worden om de ziekte uit te roeien.

People throw poo and pee on the streets. Was that normal in medieval cities?

1. Yes
2. No

The city is surrounded by a wall with a gate in it. Was that normal in medieval towns?

1. Yes
2. No

There are pigs walking through the city. Was that normal in medieval cities?

1. Yes
2. No

Terms in this lesson

city-wall

siege

gatekeeper

plague

epidemic

Dates in the lesson

• 1347-1351: Plague epidemic

Note 3 things you've learned

Ask 1 question about something you misunderstood